Persona 3: Days of Our Lives
by Psiro the Chronicler
Summary: Ten years ago, there was an explosion that released twelve Shadows. Ten years ago, a car accident left a boy with no parents. Ten years ago, a young girl was caught up in an earlier explosion and was sent to the hospital. Now, the girl's trying to solve the lost secrets of the accident that left her with an out of control Persona. What exactly happened ten years ago? OC alert.
1. Chapter 1: And so it Begins

**Author's Note:**

**To those who are new to this fanfic, WELCOME!**

**And to those who believe that they have seen this title before, you are not wrong. I deleted the previous one because I wanted to start again. The original date this fanfic was released was sometime around December 2012. It really doesn't look good when a story only has 3 chapters after a period of 5 months, so I wanted to wipe the slate clean.**

******To the people who have read the fanfic before and enjoyed it, I am sorry that I stopped. **I have no excuses to why I was not able to continue writing. Sure, there were exams and assessments and etc. but a little time management should have done the trick. 

**Hopefully I will be able to continue writing despite my entrance to a new life in college. I aim to have about 3000 words per chapter and I hope that I will be able to upload any new content within 2 weeks at the most. **

**If ever I fail to do so, kindly message me. I will gladly reply to any message, comment, etc. However, if for some reason I have stopped, then it would be because there are certain circumstances that have halted my writing.**

**Without further ado, enjoy the first chapter!**

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Chapter 1

_And so it begins_

"… _And with that, the total number of people with the Apathy Syndrome has increased by 10%. Doctors are still trying their best to…_"

_Sigh. Even if they do their best, people will still get sick won't they?_

School's just around the corner, and some transfer student will be arriving here shortly. Mitsuru said that he'd be late, give or take another hour or two. He'd better get here on time though; I'm the welcoming committee.

I checked my watch again. "It's almost time," I said. I'd bet that the newcomer won't arrive yet given the existence of the "thirteenth" hour. I'd better check on Yukari though; she was having trouble evoking her Persona earlier.

As I climbed up the stairs, I felt the pain around my neck throbbing over and over again. It was the pain of someone strangling me to death. Nobody in this dorm knows about it, and nobody ever will.

I arrived at her doorstep and knocked on her door. "Yukari, you there?"

I heard a small shriek followed by something that fell to the ground, something metallic.

"Y-yes, I'm here." was the voice that I heard behind the door.

"Can I come in?" I asked.

"Sure, just a sec."

The door opened and I saw Yukari drenched in sweat. Her room was pink all over with dolls on her bed and posters on her wall. She let out a small smile and welcomed me to her room. When I entered the room, I saw that the Evoker that was on the ground was Yukari's, so I picked it up and gave it back to her.

"You still having trouble with your Persona?" I asked while offering Yukari her Evoker back. She was hesitant to reply, but she still got the gun back. "I-I just don't understand. How exactly does this work?"

I scratched my head, thinking of an easier way to explain the evoking process. "Uhh, well, do you remember the part where you have to think of dying and stuff?" She nodded in response. "Well, it's like that. Personas can be summoned under extreme stress, which can be due to very dire situations, such as being at gun point. If you feel or experience that kind of stress, you are more open; your mind is more free. Because of that freeness of mind, our Personas can be summoned. In another way, we have to clear out heads in order for our Personas to break free from our minds, and through the fear of death, our minds are clearer, thus the gun and the shattering glass effect. "

Yukari bit her lip. She probably didn't understand what I was trying to say. In her pink outfit, she kinda looked helpless without someone trying to instruct her. I sat down on her bed and offered to give her a demonstration. "Give me… five minutes. I'll teach you how." Yukari accepted my offer and sat down next to me.

Five minutes seemed to take forever, and what's worse is, the AC's on. I was shivering in the cold! Fortunately I always wear a scarf around my neck. Not only to keep me warm, but to also hide my… marks.

Yukari noticed my actions and spoke. "You alright?"

_No, I'm not! _

"I-I'm j-just f-fine!" I regretfully replied. Yeah, I couldn't hide it, she noticed it too. She got up and turned up the heat.

_Ahhh… much better. _

"Why do you think Mitsuru asked us to join?" Yukari questioned.

_Well that came out of nowhere_

I tilted my head and wondered what Yukari was talking about.

"I mean, when she found out that I can summon a Persona, she kept nagging me to join SEES. Did she do the same to you?"

I gave out another sigh. _Kirijo… Dad… _"Well, didn't I tell you that my dad works for the Kirijo Group?"

Yukari grew silent and avoided my gaze.

_Crap, I forgot! Her dad worked for the Kirijo group as well and…_

"Uhh, well anyway, I said no."

That caught her attention. When I mentioned saying no to Mitsuru, she immediately turned to me and asked, "HOW?!"

"When she asked me if I want to help her, I declined. I just kept saying no to her over and over again. Not even Ikutski changed my mind. She eventually gave up and stopped trying." This was partly true. My real intentions for not helping is rather simple: _What's the point?_ People will get sick and die eventually. What's the point in delaying it? I've seen people that are going to get hurt, but I ignored them. If things happen, they happen.

Yukari sighed, and turned to check the clock. It's one minute till midnight. "So, that's what you did? You just kept saying no? But you have an Evoker, does that mean that you are still a part of SEES?"

I pointed to my right shoulder. "I don't have the mark of SEES here. Mitsuru didn't give me the Evoker at first, but Ikutski convinced her. He said that I should keep one for protection. But my Persona's very fragile, so it won't last long."

I brought out my Evoker and waited for the few seconds to pass by. "Tell me though, why did you choose to join SEES? I didn't hear you deny the offer."

Yukari remained quiet. I won't wait for an answer though. "If you don't want to answer, then don't. I'm not forcing you. But whatever it is, use it for motivation. If I had any, I'd gladly join SEES."

The clock struck twelve and things started to change in appearance. Everything electronic failed to work, but for some strange reason, the lights still do. I turned to Yukari and raised my gun. "You ready to see my Persona?" Her nod was my only approval. I placed my gun underneath my chin and breathed deeply. _Just think, think about her… _I pulled the trigger and shouted "Persona!"

Blue light emitted from the "shot" and my Persona was standing right next to me. She looked just like a normal nurse would. She wore a small pink nurse hat, a light gray nurse uniform, and always kept a blank face, save for a pair of glowing blue eyes. The noticeable feature of my Persona is that in her hands lies a HUGE injection. It's so big that she has to lift it with both hands.

Yukari almost tripped from the surprise of seeing my Persona appear. I couldn't blame her, when I first did, I was still a kid, and the needle didn't help me calm down one bit. "Yukari, this is Mercuria, my Persona. Don't worry, she won't hurt you. She only knows supporting skills, no offensive ones. As I've said, she's very fragile. Physical attacks will hurt her the most, as for magic, well, she easily gets cold, just like me."

Yukari stood in awe since she was standing next to an actual Persona. The Nurse stood tall, and since she almost hit the ceiling, she had to bend down just to meet Yukari face to face. "Um… Hi?" Yukari waved her hand in front of the Persona's face. Almost like a greeting, the Persona nodded and made a gesture with the injection needle pointing at Yukari's face almost saying, "It's nice to meet you! Time for your medications!"

Mercuria faded away, and speaking of medications… "I have to go now. Since I'm the welcoming committee, I'll have to be there when the newcomer arrives. If you have any questions, you can ask me." I had to get to my room quick just in case something happens again. I was just about to leave when Yukari grabbed my hand.

"Wait, there's just one thing that I want to know." She said as she gripped my hand.

"Which is?" I asked.

"How come you can summon your Persona so easily? You said that we should feel a sense of 'Death' in order to summon our Persona. Does that mean that you…" She stopped.

I turned my head and stared at the floor. My neck started to itch and showing Yukari what's beneath my scarf was just going to scare her even more. "You should not fear death. We'll die sooner or later, but for now, we just need to continue to live. As for your question, yes, I do think about dying. All the time."

Yukari let go of my hand, and all I did after that was to continue staring at the floor. It was hard to believe that a person can think about dying so easily, but I'm an exception. I know that it's possible for me to die any moment from now. All because of _her_.

"You need to lighten up." Yukari said. I looked up and saw her smiling, which was weird since she just found out that I always think of death all the time. "Tell you what, come join me whenever you're free. We can hang out and stuff."

Honestly, I'd be glad to join her. She'd be like, my first real friend in a while. But I just don't feel very open. There are may things she doesn't know. Many dark secrets that nobody knows, except for my dad.

"I'll think about it," was what I managed to reply.

"Alright. I'll keep trying to summon my Persona. If you need me, I'll be in my room." Yukari said while holding her Evoker.

"And I'll be downstairs lying on the couch." I said with a smile.

I left Yukari and went straight to my room. It wasn't as colorful as Yukari's (if being only pink was considered colorful), but it was a decent room. It has yellow wallpapers (Yukari says that it matches my hair, which is blonde) a desk for studying, and a bed for sleeping. It was just a simple dorm room with nothing much in it, save for my clothes and other stuff. On the desk, sat my journal. I've had this journal ever since _it _started to get worse. Beside it were my medications, which my dad told me to stop taking. I refused to stop because this is the real stuff; whenever I take it, it helps a LOT. I don't understand what's the big deal.

I was just about to take my "medications" when I heard a knock on my door. I quickly kept the bottle and the journal, and asked who it was.

"It's me." a familiar voice said.

_Sigh. And I thought she gave up already._

I opened the door and lo and behold, it was Mitsuru, standing just like the heiress she is.

"I heard you talking to Yukari. Is she doing okay?" she asked.

"She's fine. Once she actually summons her Persona, it will be like second nature to her."

"That's good," she said with a relief, "We'll need all the help we can get. And I mean ALL of it."

I rolled my eyes. _I know where this is going. _"Look, I said it before. I won't help you. I know why you are doing this. My dad works for your father, and before that, your grandfather. He's part of your R&D department, and we both know just exactly what they were 'developing' back then."

Mitsuru tensed up, which was only natural. A burden that big is hard to carry. I decided to relax and continue my little "sermon". "Look, I know what happened in the lab. Trust me, dad used to bring me to work there everyday. Even if I was in the hospital during that time, I know what happened, and so did my father. As much as I'd like to help you right the wrongs of the past, just let it be okay? Things happen for a reason, so don't try to change the unchangeable."

"Just let it be?!" Mitsuru shouted. Her voice echoed in the room, and I'm sure that was loud enough for Yukari to hear. "Just let it be?" she continued with a much softer voice, "do you not know that it's my responsibility to correct the mistakes of my grandfather? If things happen for a reason, then tell me: what's the reason for that chaos? How does that affect us now."

"I may be a year younger than you, and I'm very sure that I can never outsmart you, but like I said, they happen for a reason, just like I have a reason why I'm not joining SEES. That is unchangeable. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a visitor to wait for."

It seemed like a memorable moment for me. There I was, arguing with the Heiress, and I was actually winning. I'll take my meds later, right now, waiting for the guest to arrive were of my top priority, since after I meet him and show him around the dorm, I can finally sleep.

I returned downstairs and sat on the couch. Right beside me, I found my baton. I picked up my baton, which I love oh-so-much, and started twirling it around. Ever since I got a mini baton as a toy back in my childhood, I kept on twirling it and spinning it around and around. It eventually became a habit for me.

As I spun it over and over again, I can't help but think about my own past. The accident. The explosion. The way it changed me for the worse. Everything. As long as my journal is safe, nobody will have to know.

Waiting has to be a gift. Or a talent. It's just so difficult for some people to do nothing and wait for something to happen. That was never a problem for me. Patience was my strong point, which was probably why Mitsuru told me to become the welcoming committee. I just kept twirling my baton while I waited for him to arrive. The Dark Hour was almost ending, which means that it's almost time for, um, time to flow again.

The marks on my neck started to itch. The marks that were there only reminded me about the things that _she_ did to me. It was painful to think about since it almost always leaves me unconscious. A little more, and I'd be unconscious for good. And whenever that choking event happens, I start to freak myself out and-

… Did I just hear something?…

"…Please sign here. It's a contract."

OH. MY. GOSH. WHO'S THERE?!

I stood up, with my baton in one hand while I scanned the room. Apparently, while I was thinking to myself, the doors opened and there were two people standing in front of me. One was in the school's uniform, while the other one was wearing… _is that a prison outfit?_

"There's no need to be scared." the little boy continued. In his hands was a piece of paper. I approached them, still with baton in hand. The other boy looked surprised to see me, and well, who can blame him? Who'd be twirling a baton like a weapon at this hour?

At this hour…_Wait a minute!_

I checked my watch and noticed that it was still midnight; The Dark Hour is still here! That means…

"Please do not scare my client." the little boy said calmly. "Let him sign the contract first." He snapped his fingers and a pen magically appeared in the newcomer's hands. He didn't know what to do, and heck, me neither.

"This contract only binds you to accepting full responsibilities of your actions." the boy continued. "Please, sign. We don't have much time."

In the silence, he came to a conclusion. As much as I'd hate to think that he'd follow what a kid in prison clothes says, he signed the contract.

"Very well." the boy said while smiling. "Time is something no one can escape. It delivers us all to the same end. Wishing won't make it go away."

I'd have to agree with the kid, it's just what I kept telling everybody. Things will happen no matter what! It's useless changing the inevitable.

"And you." the small boy looked at me and extended his hand. "There's something different about you. Can I see your identification card?"

_Card? Does he mean this one?_

I gave him a small card that was always in my pocket just in case. I don't know for what, but that card is rather unique. It's because it doesn't exist.

"Hmm… Interesting. Thank you for showing it to me. You know, we might meet again someday." He gave me back my card. After that, he got the contract and made it disappear just like magic. "I'll be taking my leave now. Goodbye."

I blinked, he was still there. I blinked again, and he disappeared.

The new guy looked at me and he kinda had the same face that I was showing. Shock. Fear. Uncertainty. All of it.

"Um, so…" _Darn it, say something! _"What's your name?"

The blue haired boy introduced himself. "Makoto. Makoto Yuki."

_Okay, at least smile or something. Sheesh._

"It's nice to meet you. You just arrived right?"

The quiet boy nodded.

_Look's like being friends with him is out of the question. _"Well, hi! My name's Reila. Reila Minamoto. Glad to meet you."

"Who's there?" a voice from above said.

I turned around and saw a very, _very_, shocked Yukari with her Evoker in hand. "Oh, hey Yukari," was all that I could say. Yukari was just about to wave at me until she saw the strange boy that was standing right next to me.

"How can he… But it's…!" she said nervously.

"Yukari, calm down, and hide the, um, toy gun?" The presence of the gun was probably not what he expected, but heck, I was greeted with a giant injection when I first saw my Persona. A gun won't scare me now, and it probably won't scare him anytime soon.

"Ah, there you are." Mitsuru suddenly appeared out of nowhere and stood right next to Yukari. "Mitsuru, how can he be here? He's not…" Mitsuru placed a hand on her shoulder and calmed her down. "Easy Takeba. Don't startle him"

And just like magic, the Dark Hour was over. Time started ticking, lights were back on, and the TV (which I forgot to turn off) suddenly reported about the news.

"I didn't think you'd arrive so late. I'll explain everything you need to know about this dorm to you. Please, come this way." Mitsuru gestured him towards the sofa area. He followed her and so did Yukari and I was left alone next to the counter.

_This boy… Could he possibly be the reason?_ _I won't know for now, maybe I'll find out soon. The easy way, or the deadlier way._

_Sigh, what a day._

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**I hope you all enjoyed the first chapter! Any comments that may be, is good enough for me!**

**P.S. If anyone can suggest a way for me to do a double space kind of action, please tell me! I need some way to separate paragraphs (or scenes) just by a bit! Thanks!**


	2. Chapter 2: The First Day

**Author's Note:**

**Prepare yourselves for a huge assembly of words! This right here has about a good 6000+ words and is worth a read!**

**I hope this much will make it worth your while, and I'll try to send in the next one soon despite my exams.**

**Enjoy!**

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Chapter 2

_The First Day_

_Ah, it's a brand new day! It's beautiful too, what can possibly ruin this wonderful morning? One word: School_

It wasn't that I hate going to school, but it's the homework that they keep giving us. Honestly, I'd be okay going to school and spend around six hours with my friends (well, not anymore), just don't give the overflowing homework.

I had to get dressed and quickly too if I want to make anything decent for breakfast besides instant noodles. Everybody in this dorm would gladly eat anything instant just so that they can get a few more hours of sleep, but what does it matter to wake up a few minutes earlier? We'll eventually regret nothing in the long run.

Okay, hair. Check. Pigtails. Check. Bag… It's downstairs probably. Journal… Now where did I put that?

I got dressed for school but unlike the others, I have my own version of the school's dress code. I wear the normal school uniform, just with a blue light jacket since I'll probably die from the cold. And as usual, I wear my scarf around my neck to cover my marks. The teachers don't mind the scarf and the jacket much, except for Mr. Okoda who believes that we should all wear the proper school uniform.

I went downstairs only to find Mitsuru, sitting down on the kitchen table all alone drinking a cup of tea. After the small argument last night, I tried to ignore her at first, but instead, she's the one who started the conversation.

"What do you think of Makoto?" she asked while sipping her cup of tea.

"What about him?" I said while making a sandwich. "He's just another junior just like me, and apparently, he has the ability to experience the Dark Hour. What else do you need to know?"

She stopped drinking and placed her cup onto the table. "Do you think he has the potential?"

I finished making two sandwiches for breakfast and moved on to the dining table. "We won't know for sure right? Ikutski doesn't have a Persona, but he can experience the Dark Hour. Same goes for your dad and mine. If he does, then good for him. If not, he can stay with me in the dorm while you guys go saving the world." I said jokingly.

I sat down on the opposite end of the table and began to eat my breakfast. Mitsuru didn't get up and leave yet. Instead, she put her hands together and thought to herself. She's a prodigy; thinking and formulating things were her strong points, which makes me wonder if there's anything she doesn't plan for.

"Are you going to spy on him?" I asked as I took a few bites out of my sandwich. I know about the cameras around the dorm, so I'm willing to bet that they'd use them for this occasion.

"We would have to observe him for the time being. If he doesn't have the potential, there's nothing we can do about it. However, it would be dangerous if he didn't stay with us. I would request the Chairman to let him stay with us until further notice." She replied. She was cool, calm, and collected, which is something not every leader can do. She stroked her crimson hair and it flowed perfectly down her shoulder. She thought for a moment and continued. "But if he does have the ability, then I would like to invite him to join SEES. That would bring the total amount of Persona users to five."

"Four." I interrupted. I finished my breakfast and decided to make my own lunch. Sure, the food in school's great and all, but nothing beats the food you make at home. "Stop trying to convince me to join. I said what I said already, and you can't change my mind."

"Then what _can _change your mind?" She asked.

I ignored her for a while just to tease her. "Is there any fish left? Don't tell me that we're out of rice too! I'd better go to the store tonight. Need anything that will suit your tastes, madam?"

She may not look like it, but she's getting annoyed. She finished her tea and left in on the counter. Slowly but surely, she approached me and asked again. "You haven't answered my question. Is there anything that can change your mind?"

I sighed because, well, there actually is a way to convince me to join SEES. Maybe two ways actually. I decided to let the heiress know my reasons why I don't want to going SEES, and how she can convince me to join. "All I need is the right reason to join. Once I know that, then I would join SEES and help you right the wrongs of the past. I can be motivated to do pretty much anything, even if my Persona can only support you guys." I looked at her straight in the eye where I can see her cold stare that can shatter any spirit. A chill went down my spine, and to me, that says something. "Answer me this: 'what is there to gain after we get rid of the Shadows?' It should be simple enough for you to answer."

She continued to stare at me with more confidence than before. "If we get rid of the Shadows, then nobody will be experiencing the Apathy Syndrome. A lot less people will suffer than they are now. That is my goal."

"But to rid the world from suffering is impossible," I mentioned. "You can beat all the Shadows you want, you can donate to every single family a portion of the world's money, but to completely wipe out something that is inevitable is impossible."

This was a surprise to her. She most probably was not expecting an answer like that. "We may not be able to do that, but at least we can make people live happily in the mean time."

"This is the part where it gets interesting. Riddle me this Miss Heiress. As long a we live, we will experience everything life has to give to us. Its joy, happiness, and all the other good stuff. However, the unchangeable truth is that there will still be problems such as war, disease, death, and others. We can change all we want, but it is impossible to defeat the inevitable. Therefore, what is the purpose of living?" I finished making a small bento box and wrapped it around with cloth. I left Mitsuru standing in her original position while I went to the couch to find my bag and baton. After turning around, I saw that she didn't move from her spot, so I decided to wash her cup while she stood there speechless.

"How can you be so sure?" She said with a calm voice.

I was puzzled at her reply so I asked, "So sure of what?"

"How can you be so sure that we cannot change the inevitable? I may not have the answer to the meaning of life, but I truly believe that we can change the future of mankind." That was her stance, and I will respect that.

As for how I am so sure that we cannot change the inevitable…

_A little girl told me._

_A charming little girl with no face._

_And it is all thanks to that one incident back then._

"There are many things that you don't know about me. I know that there's no changing the future. If the future won't come true, then it won't be called the 'future', won't it?"

I finished washing her cup, got my stuff, and approached her again. "By the way, you still didn't answer my question. Honestly, if you did, and if I am satisfied, then I would join SEES."

Mitsuru remained calm. She regained her composure and smiled.

_Does she know the answer to my question? She just said that she didn't have an answer. _

"Like I said earlier, I don't know the meaning of life, but I do know one thing. We live to find the meaning of life. That is my belief."

I sat down for a while and thought about her answer. _So, in order to understand life, we first must live it? If so, then the simple act of living should be enough to count as the purpose of life. _It was a strong answer. It doesn't have much basis or proof, but it was, indeed, a good answer.

She smiled. It's as if she believes that her answer would be enough to convince me to join. "By the way, you're still on the welcoming duty along with Yukari."

"Whaaaaat?!" I shouted. "What do you mean 'still on the welcoming duty'?"

"You will be giving Makoto a tour of the school. And as the Student Council President, I hope that you will say many great things about our school. Once he wakes up, you and Yukari will give him the tour." She was smiling now as if she's just using this to annoy me. She's having her fun now; I can at least tell that much.

_But I want to have some fun as well…_

"Do you want me to tell the both of them about the rich history of our school?" I said with a mischievous smile on my face. "I've heard many great things about this school from my father, and I know the school from the inside and out. I may not know _everything_ that's in it, but I'm sure that they would be delighted to know about our school. Especially since the Kirijo Group made the island and has ties with our school. Won't that be great, Miss Student Council President?"

She's got a certain fire in her eyes. A fire that would burn her victims to the ground, and she was staring at me with those eyes. She paced herself towards me and whispered something into my ear just to make her point very, _very_, clear. "If you keep asking for trouble, then you just might get what you asked for." She got her things and left the dorm.

I just decided to follow the Heiress' orders. I left my stuff on the table and went to check if Yukari's up. If she's still asleep, then too bad, at the mood that I was in, I would have smashed through her door.

"Yukari?" I asked as I knocked on her door.

The door opened and there she was, all prepared for the first day of school. Her pink outfit really stood out amongst the school's normal uniform, and strangely enough, even Mr. Okoda approves of it. She smiled at me as she got her bag. "Good Morning! Ready for the first day of school?" she asked.

_No I am not ready. No, it's pretty cold outside. No I would rather stay at home. Mitsuru will never end her pestering. The new kid's going to be observed from here on. _

"Yeah, I'm ready. Mitsuru told me to accompany you and show Minato around the school. It's no big deal." I said while hiding my anger to myself.

Yukari noticed my tone and asked, "Did something happen? It is Mitsuru again? What did you do?"

I smiled at her. _You'd rather not know, _was the message that I wanted to convey, but for the sake of the first day of school, I had to cool off, _fast._ "Like I said, it's no big deal."

The both of us headed to Makoto's room which was locked. "Will you do the honors?" I asked Yukari. She smiled and shook her head, "Nah, let's both wake him up." I nodded and we proceeded to do the wake up call. Three knocks were given followed by a kick from me. "Rise and shine sleepy head!" I shouted.

There was no response, so I did the one thing that will get anyone to answer their door: The Eternal Knocking. I kept on knocking the door for a good five minutes and each knock gets louder as each minute passed by. Eventually, we heard the poor guy yield to the morning brigade. "I'm up! I'm up! Stop knocking already."

He opened his door, fully dressed with bag in hand, all ready for the first day of school. Both Yukari and I asked him why he didn't hear us in the first place. "I sleep with my earphones on." he said quietly. We both groaned. _If Mitsuru asks me to wake this guy up everyday, I'd better be equipped with a stick of dynamite._

The three of us went downstairs to eat. I already ate, so I just waited for the two to finish their instant noodles. Honestly, I have nothing against having instant noodles for breakfast, but after being in the hospital for multiple… reasons… I learned to take better care for my health.

"You cold?" a quiet voice asked.

I realized that I was staring at the window, looking at the sunlight. I turned to see Minato sipping his soup while Yukari was already cleaning up. "It's not that cold at all. Why wear the scarf if you have a jacket?" Minato continued.

I picked up my bag and baton (heck, there was no way I'm leaving my favorite toy at home) and decided to give the new kid my answer. "Well, I might as well explain why I have this ridiculous getup. I don't know how I got it, but I am very weak to the cold. I easily get cold and freeze up when faced with the air-condition. My doctors say that I don't have any signs and symptoms of any disease, so I'm not sick from anything. If you want to see my at my worst, you should see me in the winter; I look like a stuffed up snowman." It wasn't the complete answer, but it will have to suffice.

"Oh, ok." he replied.

_Not much to say, do you?_ I thought to myself. Conversing with the boy was definitely out of my limits.

The three of us left the dorm and headed for the station to board a train going to our school. I honestly like the scenic view of our school. I can see it's majesty, beauty, and magnificence. It's just sad to know what happened to our school a few years back. And what was unleashed.

We arrived on time, and we started to give Makoto the tour of our school. We pointed out its history with the Kirijo Group, and I didn't say anything that would disappoint Mitsuru. I noticed as we passed by, people were looking at us and started whispering to themselves and their friends. _What could they be talking about?_

We eventually finished giving Makoto the tour and I said, "Now it's time to find your homeroom. First, you're going to have to check the bulletin board for your class. It would be best if you also consult with your homeroom teacher. I'm sure you can do all of that easily. If you have any questions, you'd better ask them now." He shook his head, which was great because it meant that one, he can take it from here, and two, I can finally go on by myself. Yukari gave him a smile and concluded the tour, and the three of us said our goodbyes and went our separate ways.

I first had to go to the bathroom to take my medications. When I arrived, I locked myself in a cubicle, pulled out a bottle of water and a small bottle with little pills in it. "Let's see," I said to myself, "it's becoming more and more frequent now, so I guess doubling the normal dosage wouldbe enough." The normal and prescribed number of pills should be only one pill every week, but from the way my attacks have been occurring, I'm pretty sure that doubling the dosage would be more effective.

I got two pills into my mouth and chugged enough water to prevent the taste from remaining in my mouth. Although these pills are a life saver to me, (and trust me, they really are), dad still discourages me from taking them. He created these pills in the first place to help me, but after learning of the possible side effects, he shut down the production and tried to find another alternative for my "disease". Sad to say, he didn't find one.

While dad believes that he stopped the manufacturing of these pills, someone apparently found out about it and reopened it. He's my supplier now, and every month I'll have to meet him and pay him for the medicine that I need to survive. _Is it so wrong for me to take something that will cure me from my pain?_

I got out of the bathroom and proceeded to the bulletin board. It's my second year in Gekokan and seeing that I'm still alive to see this school for another year means a lot to me. After all, I got my "gift" from this place.

Let's see… Minamoto… Ah!

Looks like I'll be in 2-F for this school year. I wonder where Yukari and Makoto are? Upon closer inspection, I saw that they were also my classmates. Was it fate, was it destiny? I don't know, but I'm pretty sure _she_ does.

I went upstairs and found my classroom. There, I saw that Yukari was talking with her friends and telling them about all of her fun experiences in life. Her friends, her happiness; they kinda make me jealous. I just sat down on my desk and waited for time to pass by.

Not even a minute passed by, and a familiar face happened to stop by.

"Hey'lo Reila! How's it going?"

"Everything's fine Junpei." I replied. Junpei wore his cap on his head and his ridiculously optimistic smile on his face. He approached me before, and I thought he was trying to hit on me, but I learned that he was an okay guy. "You seem happy to be back to school. What's with the smile?" I joked.

He ended up laughing at my joke and answered, "Oh man, that was a good one! Me happy about school? Anyway, I hear that there's a new student here and I want to welcome him. I know what it's like to be the newbie, so I guess it'll be okay if I'd be the one to approach him first."

"Well, you're a little too late for that one." I sinckered. "The new guy arrived in our dorm yesterday and he will be staying there until the school finds a proper dorm for him. Today, Mitsuru put me and Yukari in charge for touring him around the school."

This threw back Junpei a good two meters. With the surprise in his eyes, he looked like he couldn't believe that what I'm saying is true. "So you're saying… He's living with you, Yukari, and Mitsuru? Man, why do some people have all the luck in the world." He groaned.

"Hey, we still have Akihiko around. Plus, if it wasn't for him, it would be a dorm with three girls and one guy. Honestly, I wouldn't mind if we had more boys to even out our dorm." I said this because I knew what he would say next. This was just to cheer the poor guy up. After all, it probably hurt him to have to go to school again.

With his face lit up, he asked, "So… can I join you guys in your dorm?" He was smiling with all hope and optimism; these are one of the things that I don't have, but I wish I did.

I places my hand underneath me chin and pretended to think. "Hm… nope, sorry Junpei. I guess Makoto will be staying with three beautiful girls until he gets transferred. I'm sure he'll tell you all about it when the two of you become best friends."

The poor boy's smile quickly turned upside down. "Gee, you really know how to make a guy feel down, don't you?" I giggled to his response. "It's a gift I guess. Well, maybe a habit also." Junpei suddenly stood upright with his frown turned into a huge grin and said to the ceiling, "Well, Makoto Yu-something, I'm going to be your best bud, best wingman, and every other best you'll ever have. I'll be here for ya every step of the way!"

Foolishness was written all over his face. I don't see how he will keep his promises. The only promise I know of is death. I shook my head and wondered about Junpei's optimism. How can someone be so happy? It's just not logical nor possible.

He turned to me and asked, "Hey, you said that we'd be the best of friends. Are you sure about that?" I for one can't possibly know if that was going to be true or not. Only _she _knows. But, just for the sake of making the guy happy, I nodded.

Before he can react, there was an announcement saying that all students should head to the auditorium. I only reacted with a groan. The auditorium was COLD! Maybe I'll be seated away from the direction of the AC. "You heard them, we'll have to go to the auditorium." Junpei only whined and complained. "I'm willing to bet all my money that it's going to be a boring speech again." I smiled. "Well, then there wouldn't be much to bet then wouldn't it?"

I didn't really care much about the principal's speech. I was more focused on keeping myself warm. The blue light jacket that I wear keeps me warm, but when it's warm enough, I can take it off and still look refreshed. Unfortunately, it wasn't keeping me as warm as I hoped; I was underneath the AC. My scarf was warming my neck, my jacket was keeping my body warm (well, just a bit), but since the cold air was hitting my head, my body temperature was dropping.

"Please o God just end. Please o God just end. Please…" I repeated while my teeth were chattering.

"I hear talking. I believe it's someone in Ms. Toriumi's class…" Mr. Okoda said.

_Well screw you! You didn't allow us to seat anywhere we want!_

Ms. Toriumi came by and shushed me. "Be quiet! You're going to get me into trouble!" She's a nice teacher who always helps her students in times of trouble, but I personally believe that she needs to stand up against Mr. Okoda.

As the speech continued, I could hear some quiet whispering going around. I heard my name being mentioned a couple of times, but I wonder what they were talking about? Come to think of it, something like this happened earlier today…

We went back to our classrooms and I finally got my body temperature back to normal. If I didn't bring my scarf and jacket, I would have gotten sick or worse! I went back to my seat and touched the window. I could feel the heat from the sun's rays being transferred to my finger tips. It shows me that I can still feel; it shows me that I am still alive.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Junpei, Yukari, and Makoto talking to each other. I didn't want to join in, but apparently Yukari saw me. "Reila! Come over here!" I didn't move from my spot, but Yukari went out of her way and pulled me towards the boys. "You have to at least join Makoto and I in a conversation; you can afford to ignore Junpei if you want," she said.

"Hey! I resent that!" Junpei said in reply.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." she continued. "Now where were we?"

Junpei answered with a smile and said, "We were just talking about how my man Makoto over here was walking side by side with a couple of beauties like you two. The whole class was buzzing about it."

_Give me the names and I'll talk to them._ "Ugh, I can't stand rumors. Did you make them? 'Cause if you did, then you're about to lose one of your very, _very_, few friends that's a girl." I threatened.

"Yeah, I just can't stand them either." Yukari remarked. "I mean, I'm used to it, and I think Reila is too, but he just transferred here. At least give him some privacy."

Junpei looked like the whole world was against him, and to prevent himself from getting hurt, he had to either tell us the names or bring us to them. "Woah! Woah! Hold up! I didn't start this! I just heard it around the hallway. As for who started it, your guess is as good as mine! I'm innocent here!"

Makoto just gave a small smile after hearing all this fuss about rumors. "I don't mind the rumors. After all, I'll probably be known as the boy who's always next to two of the most popular girls in school."

I poked Minato with my baton just to make him shut up. Well, maybe it wasn't a soft poke; it was more like a jab. He kinda gave off a big wheeze after I "poked" him. "I'm not the most popular girl in school; that would be Yukari. As for me, if ever I'm popular, it's because I'm known for either my 'winter' clothes, or because I'm different from the rest."

"Or it's because you're pretty bea…" I wanted to hit Junpei on the head, but Yukari beat me to it. "That's enough. Look, just ignore the rumors and everything will be okay. I'm sure it will die down, right Junpei?"

"Hey, I already told you, I didn't start them! Sheesh." He was sincere when he said it, so that made me believe that he didn't start the rumors.

"Whatever Junpei," Yukari said while rolling her eyes. "Well, I have to go now. Just for some archery stuff. Reila, can you take Makoto home with you? He doesn't have a key to the dorm remember?"

I only gave out a sigh. "Do I have to? Can't we just leave him outside the dorm until the others get back? I have to get some groceries first before going back to the dorm." The guy can take care of himself. Then again, there's something about him that made me feel… uneasy.

"Well, if you won't bring him home then I guess he'll have to go with you to the mall!" She winked while flashing a wide grin.

It was a small tease, but I didn't want to go shopping with a boy who's only emotions are "happy" and "not happy". I weighed each choice and made my decision. "Fine, I'll take him home. I guess I'll have to go get the groceries later tonight."

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the blue haired boy smile. He didn't say anything, but I believe that he was laughing inside. I got my stuff, tightened my scarf, and zipped my jacket just to prepare myself for the weather. "Come on new guy, let's bring you home."

Makoto only nodded, got his things, and left with me. I saw Yukari waving her hand at me and Makoto while Junpei was giving him a thumbs up. As we passed by, many students saw the both of us and started talking to each other. Well, gossiping was the more correct word.

"You know, I could go to the mall with you." Makoto offered. He was getting his earphones from his pocket and putting them in his ear.

"Not in your life!" I rejected. "It would just be embarrassing to go out with someone who I barely know! Plus, let's not forget that there's a huge gossip going around the school. Look, I'll just bring you home, then I'd have to go get the groceries. I'm sure you can- HEY! Are you listening!?"

Makoto had a blank expression on his face and he didn't look like he was bothered by anything. I'm guessing that he's listening to music at max volume. I honestly tried to resist the temptation to hit him on the head with my baton, but I just couldn't help myself.

THWACK!

From school to our dorm, we had to take the train again. Cool breeze blew on us and I was feeling it's cold touch on my exposed face. _What's wrong with me? _I honestly have no idea, yet I always ask myself that question over and over again. _Maybe it's because I'm not normal? After the incident, life became… different._

Eventually, we got back to our dorm and it was getting quite late. I checked if Makoto was behind me because he's my responsibility for today. I turned around and saw the boy looking around the street with his earphones on. It's a good thing he had his eyes open, at least one of his senses was active.

We approached the dorm and I unlocked the main door. "Well, here you are! Now step right in, enjoy the place, do homework, have fun or whatever boys do while I go to the store and ge-" I suddenly felt a drop of water on my head, and that single tiny drop of cold water made me tense up a bit. I looked up to the sky and saw that clouds were forming, the rainy kind.

Makoto, acting all gentleman-like, opened the door for me. "After you?" At this point, I was fuming out of irritation. "Shut up!" I said as I stormed into the dorm.

In the dorm, I saw the Heiress sitting on the couch reading a book. She noticed our presence and greeted us. "Welcome back." Makoto didn't say anything but waved, while all I did was dump my stuff on the couch and sat down, twirling my baton. At times like these, it can be a real stress reliever.

"By the way, where's Yukari?" Mitsuru asked. I was about to answer, but Makoto beat me to it. "She's probably on her way back."

Mitsuru nodded, "So Makoto, how was your first day in school? As the student council president, I would like to know if you have any issues you'd like to discuss."

_Please mention the rumors. Please mention the rumors._

"There's nothing wrong at the moment." Makoto said with a hint of happiness; he was looking at me when he said this.

_Oh you son of a..._

"Good, I am glad to hear that. Are you tired? I would suggest that you would get a good night's rest." Mitsuru at this point was looking at me and giving me the cold stare. I decided to send her my own message. _What? You think that I'm going to tell him about the cameras? _I don't do these things! Specifically, I don't want to change what's eventually going to happen. If it's going to happen, then I'll let it be.

Makoto only nodded and went upstairs, leaving me with the Icy Empress down below.

I kept on twirling my baton while waiting and hoping for the rain to stop. All Mitsuru was doing was reading her book in silence. I ignored her and decided to list down the things we need from the store.

Yukari arrived with an umbrella in hand. She wasn't soaked or anything, but just tired from the walk home. "Hello!" She greeted. Mitsuru managed to reply a simply "welcome" while I just said hi. "It looks like the rain's going to stop, but it'll be midnight in an hour," she said, "oh that's right! Reila, you're going to the store right? Can you get me a few things?"

"Aww, why should I? I mean, you can get them yourself." I replied. Yukari rolled her eyes, "Because you're going there anyway! Look, it's just some small things. I'll get a piece of paper." She checked her bag and pulled out a pad of paper. She then scribbled some items on the list and handed them over to me." I checked the list and decided to get the items. _If things happen, they happen._

"That reminds me. Reila, can you also get some groceries for me?" Mitsuru asked for the list and wrote down some additional items. When I got it back, I just realized that not only do I need to get the list for these two, but also for myself and for the whole dorm. _If things happen, they happen._

Minutes later, a familiar figured appeared in front of us. He had grey hair and wore the senior's red uniform. "I'm going out for a bit."

"Akihiko, it's late you don't need to go out." Mitsuru said. I only sighed after her remark. She shows concern for Akihiko, who's a much better fighter than me, but believes that I can go out by myself?

"Don't worry. I'm just getting a little practice." He said with a grin on his face. As he passed by, he noticed my list and asked, "Hey, you going to the store?"

I just gave up, gave him the list and pen, and waited for it to come back.

_Sure Reila, just simply accept whatever comes your way. Look what's happened now?_

From the dorm to the store, it's a good fifteen minute journey. While there were a lot of items on the list, they were the small and light kind of groceries. I found all of them and headed towards the fish section. All kinds of fish were displayed, but since it was late at night, there wasn't a good selection of tuna left. However, I managed to spot a nice piece of tuna. The others looked good, but not as good as the one I saw. I reached out to grab it, only to find out that someone had the same idea.

Another hand came out of nowhere and got the tuna. I turned and saw a figure a few inches taller than me with dark grayish hair covered by a beanie. He looked very scary, but personally, he didn't scare me… much.

"Hm? You getting this?" He asked.

I only nodded. I couldn't say anything in fear that he'd attacked me for trying to get the fish back.

He inspected the tuna, placed it in a plastic bag, and handed it over to me. "You've got a good eye." He said. After that, he turned and left.

_Who was that guy? And what kind of a reply was that?_

I checked my watch and it was almost midnight. _Will it happen tonight?_ I paid for the groceries and ran back to the dorm as fast as I could while carrying them. While I was running, I encountered a familiar pain on my neck.

_Dammit! Not now! _

I got back to the dorm and thankfully, nobody was in the lobby. I placed all the groceries on the kitchen table and headed towards my room. Step by step, as I was going to my room, the feeling of pain slowly increased around my neck. _I doubled the dosage. I DOUBLED IT! And it's still not disappearing!_

I entered my room, locked the door, pulled out a small envelope from my desk and waited. Midnight was like a minute away, and in my hands, I hold my last will, just in case if this is my last moment on this world. I unwrapped my scarf and prepared for the worse.

The Dark Hour came and everything happened as usual. Things looked green, lights were flickering, and coffins could be seen outside. There was something new though. Well, not really. It's nothing new to me.

My Persona awoke by herself and stared into my eyes. Mercuria showed her blue, mesmerising eyes at me while gently stroking my face. I was scared and she knew it. She held my hand, feeling it tremble beneath her presence. She had no mouth, but I believe that she was smiling, smiling with sharp teeth and an evil grin.

Almost at once, her eyes turned red and she dropped her giant injection. She lashed out to me and grabbed my neck. I didn't struggle nor fight against my Persona. Trust me, I've tried fighting her before, but she was as hard as diamond! I let Mercuria strangle me because there was nothing I could do to stop her. I wanted to scream, scream to the whole group, and pray that they would stop Mercuria from strangling me, but she didn't want that to happen. Mercuria tilted her heard and looked at me with her dark, crimson eyes. Her eyes were like fire and they stared deep into my soul, sensing all my fears, and all my thoughts. _Will I die today? _Only _she _knew the answer.

The next part was the last one for Mercuria's nightly "performance". She kept her hands around my neck and started to apply more pressure around it. She didn't want to make it a quick event; she'd rather make it a slow and painful one. As I was almost running out of air, she brought me close to her face and we met eye to eye. Those eyes were the last things I saw until I passed out.

_Blue hair. Fallen girl. Swords and hands. A Harp. A monster with coffins._

_Death._

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**P.S. I'm still trying to find a way to do a double space here. If nothing else comes up, then I hope that you all will be able to understand the story still.**

**If you have anything to say, just get 'em going my way!**


	3. Chapter 3: The Girl in Veils

**Author's Note:**

**Welcome again to Reila's adventure! Here we shall discover who "_she_" is and what connections this character has to Reila._  
_**

**As usual, I thank you if you've reached this far in my fanfic and I hope that this will capture your interests some more!**

* * *

Chapter 3

_The Girl in Veils_

"Reila! Oh Reila! Remember me?"

_OH MY GOD!_

_OH MY GOD!_

_OH MY GOD!_

I regained consciousness from Mercuria's death strangle and awoke in a very familiar room. Gasping for air, I didn't really pay attention to who was talking because I was busy trying to realize that I'm still alive. After a good ten minutes of panicking, I calmed myself down. Sure, I'm still here and all, but why don't I feel happy to still be alive? Rather than feeling grateful for having breath in my lungs, I felt… disappointed.

_Why didn't I die? _

Sure, rant at me or scream into my ears that being alive is great and all, but I was sad because I know that Mercuria will come back for me and try to kill me again until she actually succeeds. The pain on my neck was hurting much more than before! The marks on my neck, oh if I could only see them, would have looked like dark red marks similar to bruises or possibly burns.

_Why am I still alive?_

"That's a good question you have their Reila."

That's when I started to register the voice. That was the voice of calm, quiet evil. It was like a voice of a murderer who would lull you to sleep first before brutally stabbing you with a knife. It's been a while since I've seen _her. _Although, she's been around since the incident.

I turned to face a familiar figure clothed in blue silk clothes. She wore a veil in front of her face with three eyes sewn onto the material. This girl, well, she says she's human, lives in a certain… space. The room which I awoke in is filled with blue curtains, blue furniture, starry sand, and above me I can see a constellation of stars moving around and around. Time didn't seem to progress because everything felt like it was frozen. It's like, you can move and all, but after staying in that room even for a minute, you'd feel like nothing's moving despite your own actions.

"You didn't change any of your decorations, did you? You had like, a month to rethink your designs. At least lay off the blue colors." I told the girl weakly. I wasn't completely a hundred percent 'cause my body's still recovering from the shock from Mercuria.

"Ahem, I added a chandelier above me. And I like blue! It represents calm, cool oceans and sadness. Besides, this is your little room too you know." The voice sounded more cheerful now, as if she's toying with me.

I did notice the chandelier though. It's dangling on the ceiling, and instead of lightbulbs, blue flames bursted out. As I approached her, I could feel some sand entering my shoes. She liked sand as if she would always like to play in the beach. It's annoying at first, but you simply can't argue with a mysterious veiled girl now can't you?

"Now come one," the girl said, "It's time for your monthly meeting here with me! Surely you can't resist fate now can you?" The girl stretched out her hand and made a small hand gesture, calling me to sit down with her.

I was lured in by her and I saw her small round table again. It had the same objects placed on top of it. An hourglass and a crystal ball. It may all seem to be too good to be true, but this girl may act like a killer, may possibly be a gypsy, or even a frail little girl, but one thing's for sure…

"Why do you want me too look into that stupid ball again? I already saw them as Mercuria was strangling me. Heck, why are you still here anyway?" I asked

The veiled girl gestured her hands again hinting me to simply be quiet. I couldn't see her face because of her blue, alluring veil. As much as I wanted to, I wanted to grab the veil, rip it off and see who she really was, but that's something I've already tried and failed in the past.

She got up from her chair and approached me without making a sound. "Oh my dear Reila," she said in a quiet voice, "You obviously know that I'll always be here for you. Even if you take you daddy's 'painkillers', you will never be rid of pain. You will always see me despite your resistances."

She went behind me and stroked my neck and grazed my new wounds. I wanted to flinch, react, or do anything! But I could not move any inch of my entire body!

"It seems that Mercuria's trying _really_ hard to kill you. Well, I think she's doing a marvellous job! You know, someday, you'll have to get a cast for your neck instead of a measly scarf." She wrapped her hands around my neck and started to squeeze me a little bit.

"ADRIA! Get off me! Stop it! I can't- hkk!" I was choking and gagging a bit until she finally let me go. She let out a devilish laugh and headed back to her seat.

I was gasping for air and hurled out words slowly while recovering. "I-If. Y-you. Want. To kill. Me. THEN DO IT!" I screamed. "I don't want to live anymore! It's been ten years already and I still won't die!" I broke out into tears after saying those words. I actually said that I wanted to die. Who in their right mind would say those things? Maybe I'm not right, maybe I'm just full of misery that even my own death wish wouldn't be granted.

She began again with a mischievous purring tone, "dear Reila, I would gladly end your life right now. I could even let your own psyche do it, but the circumstances are… difficult. But don't worry, the only thing preventing you from death is something as small as a butterfly."

She clapped her hands and reached for the hourglass. "Now then, back to business. Do you remember my crystal ball? Oh, I'm sure you do. It's been only a month since we've last met!"

I stared into Adria's crystal ball. It was definitely made of crystal or something that resembled crystal, but the inside of it was fluid. It was like the crystal ball was simply a case for a sea or an ocean. The strange hourglass with her had three chambers, golden handles and silver frames. The ornate design resembled water or something that resembled the word "flow".

Adria straightened her back and pointed to the crystal ball. "I know that you've seen certain visions, but I do believe that you should definitely see them again in a more _crystal clear_ version. Once I flip the hourglass, you will begin seeing certain events in the future."

She noticed that I was closing my eyes and gave off a low sigh. "Reila, how many times do I have to remind you? OPEN YOUR EYES!" she screamed. I heard a snap of her fingers and my eyes were forced open. At that point, I didn't care anymore. It's been the same routine month after month, year after year. I just let her do what she wants.

The blue veiled girl giggled in response of my action. She tipped the hourglass and I saw the sand slowly pouring down to its base and disappearing. The crystal ball began to move. Well, more specifically, the "ocean" began to move. It spiraled, rocked, shook and sank, and out came several images. Once again, I saw the same images I saw earlier when Mercuria was doing her murderous act.

_Blue hair. Fallen girl. Swords and hands. A Harp. A monster with coffins._

_Death._

The images stopped and the crystal remained unmoved on her table. The hourglass said that time was up because all sand has disappeared and all I could hear was the faint sound of the ocean.

Adria was excited after seeing the visions. Her face was not comprehendible, but her actions said otherwise. "Looks like you'll finally meet something that can kill you now! My bet is on the one with the coffins!" I couldn't see her smile, but it was pretty obvious that she was beaming with joy when she knew that there was a strong probability that I was going to die.

"You will never change, do you know that?" I said while feeling the pain from my neck. "You've seen many potential things that could have killed me in the past. Explosions. Fires. Earthquakes. But I didn't die."

"Oh? I beg to differ." Adria was wagging her finger at me. "Though you may have not died, many people you knew did!"

That response hit me like a truck would have crushed my bones. In the past, after every encounter I had with this girl, I've seen many things that could have happened to my friends. Bad things. I tried to warn them, but they didn't listen to me. But when they do, they would tell their parents about a little girl knows what's going to happen next.

The parents were a whole different story. The adults began discussing that I was a predictor of bad fortune and that I have the ability to curse people. They labeled me as "The Bad Omen" or "The Cursed Girl". Soon, everyone left me and I was alone. When my dad and I moved, we decided to not let anyone know of my powers.

"Don't you think that this is a wonderful ability Reila? To have the power to see the future is truly extraordinary!" The tone of her voice resembled the joy of a six year old after opening a gift box on Christmas morn. "People would give everything just to see one part of their future! Don't you think that you're lucky?"

I was silent for a moment, and she stopped talking to me, but she kept her calm composure as if she didn't care what I was going to do next. Anger was boiling within me and I could not just simply hold it all back.

"LUCKY?! THERE IS NOTHING FORTUNATE ABOUT THIS!" I was forcing myself to get out of the chair, but Adria wouldn't let me. As much as it tried to hold me down, I was already thrashing in my chair. "I have seen people die! It was all clear as day to me, how they would be for one minute, and how it will all change the next!" My voice was reaching its limits and shouting wasn't making my throat any better, but still, I was pissed. "I have tried to change their deaths. Marly, Chole, Grace, EVERYONE! But the minute I change their futures, another vision will come with the same result: their lifeless bodies. How can I be happy knowing the inevitable?! HOW CAN YOU SAY THAT THIS IS A BLESSING WHEN IT IS CLEARLY A CURSE?!"

I struggled to get out of Adria's control, but all I managed to do was fall to the ground with my chair. Sand went into my hair and into my eyes. Tears were flowing down my face, but I was already crying before I fell. All these years, I felt so helpless. I cannot change the future because one way or the other, it will happen. It made me realize something; just as we are given life, we have already registered our deaths.

All of my friends have been into accidents. Their parents were blaming me for everything and were on the verge of destroying my life because of their children's accidents. From that point on, I've refrained from maintaining any kind of friendship because only those who are close to me have been taken away. Looking back, after meeting Adria for the first time and after experiencing this ability, I've decided to accept things easily. _If they happen, they happen. _What good is it to complain about what was done or what's going to be? It will either happen already or it will about to happen.

_I wanted to die because I didn't want anyone to suffer anymore_

Adria knelt down to me and held up my chin to face her veiled face. Upon closer inspection, it seemed like her hair looked dark, as if it's the shade of brown or black. She saw me and I knew that she was smiling. The sight of me looking helpless made her giggle and happy because she wants me to feel weak; it's her kind of entertainment.

"Reila, do you really want to die?" she said as if she read my mind. There was a sense of depression in her tone, but it was mixed with happiness and excitement, if it were even possible. "You know, when I first met you, you didn't even think about death. But now, even with Death, you still want to live. It makes me wonder: if you really wanted to die, then why didn't you do it yourself? It would make Mercuria's monthly attacks disappear, and me along with it."

All I could do was stare at the sand and listen to the sound of the waves of an ocean that doesn't exist. The thought of committing suicide has always been with me. Ending my life would mean that nobody will experience my cursed gift. The closest I got was sticking a knife to the skin of my neck. All my friends, all their families, and all those people who have made contact with me… I just couldn't let that happen anymore.

"I don't know Adria," I managed to say, "maybe it's fate. Maybe I'm not supposed to die from my own hands?" But I did know the answer. I don't want to die because there's still my family to look out for. Dad, mom, and even my little bro, will always be happy to see me. Maybe I still want to live 'cause I want to see them all… together.

Adria was not pleased with my "answer". She let go of my chin and began to play with the sand around us. "Did you know that this is the exact same sand that the hourglass uses? You see, whenever it's used, the sand turns into future predictions, but it can also be reversed." She scooped a handful of sand, opened the lid, and placed them into the hourglass. "Do you know why there are three chambers in this hourglass?" She tapped the lid and outlined the hourglass with her index finger. "The three chambers represent the past, present and future. The present chamber is always in the middle while the future and past chambers are at the ends. When flipped to one side, the sand in the future chamber flows slowly to the present, and disappears into the past."

She hummed a tune as her finger ran down the hourglass. She was looking at me and I was fixated on her three "eyes" imprinted on her veil. "Is it not true that the future will become the present, and the present will become the past? But what happens to the past? It disappears, yes, but it becomes a memory. Now when we reverse it." She flipped the hourglass and allowed the sand to flow through the chambers. "We can see the past memories in the present while it proceeds to the unknown future. Whether they repeat again, we do not know. Even I don't know."

I focused my eyes onto her crystal ball, and I saw visions of my past. I saw it all. I went back into my memories, all the way back to the _incident_. I saw, with my own eyes, my old house with my little bro next to me. We were scared, but why?

"You were only a child," she continued with a serious tone, "barely the age of seven and your parents wanted a divorce. You couldn't work it out why they were arguing, but all you could think about was: 'what happens now?' When you were told to go to your room, you held you little brother's hand and walked all the way to your rooms." She breathed and allowed the memories to clear out. There I saw, me and my little bro, hand in hand, crying. A tear suddenly trickled down my face. Memories hurt, but it shows how much you are attached to them. I haven't seen my little bro since that day, and I've been trying to make contact with him ever since.

The images changed to an office setting and Adria continued to narrate my past. "When the parents were separated, your dad had to bring you to work because he'd always return home late. He tried his best to be more "father" than "scientist", but one man promised him a fortune if he worked for him. As a father, he only did that for the sake of his own daughter."

The sand was almost gone, but the images changed into one final scene. It was the place in my memory where I wished I hadn't gone into. It started there. _Everything_ started there.

"Now, what do you think happens if a little girl gets bored in a research facility? She goes exploring!" Adria was clapping her hands joyfully and hummed to a symphonic tune. "You got out of his office and explored the different places in the facility. Nobody bothered you because they were so busy with their research. But that never stops a curious child."

Voices were starting to appear in my head. It hurt so much to remember them. It seemed like my memories of the _incident_ were trying to break me! I grabbed my head and rocked back and forth, trying to stop myself from remembering that horrible day.

"…strange... sand… every…where…Tart..."

When the voices were clear enough, I started to panic and screamed, "The voices! Oh God! Adria let it stop! I don't want to remember! Let me out of this place! LET ME OUT OF HERE!"

Adria kept on clapping her hands and hummed to her tune. I realized then that she was humming "Ring Around the Rosie." She then decided that it was time to sing the song.

"_Ring-a-round a Rosie..." _She sang eerily.

"…under…Time?… exists!…experiment…tes…subject…"

"ADRIA! It's not funny! Let me forget! LET ME FORGET!"

"_A pocket full of posies…_"

"…begin…san…dow…fu…wha…doing?!"

"_Ashes! Ashes!_"

I realized that I couldn't breath anymore. My memories, my dark memories, which have been written down in my journal, have just taken over my body, just like that incident.

"…read…unstable!…evac…ohmygod…RU…"

My body suddenly gave up, and I dropped down dead, lifeless, just like I did ten years ago from that one explosion. Before I blacked out, I heard Adria finish the song.

"_We all fall down!_"

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**I will call these types of chapters "Adria" chapters.**

**Please tell me what you think!**


	4. Chapter 4: The Walk

**Author's Note:**

**Hello and welcome again! I don't have much to say except that I hope you all enjoy!**

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Chapter 4

_The Walk_

I woke up on my bed, still with my last will in hand. The meeting with Adria… It felt like a blur to me. I know that I passed out, but I can't seem to remember...

_What happened?_

Then the pain kicked in. The sudden flooding of pain shot straight up my veins. My brain registered different kinds of pain throughout all the parts of my body. Each part of my body ached, just like it always did ever since the beginning.

I got up and checked my reflection on the mirror. The sight of my neck and how deep-red it's gotten… Tears went down my eyes like there was an endless waterfall of depression and sadness all over my face. I fell to my knees and sobbed. I remembered everything. The lab, the incident, the explosion. Everything was as clear as day.

I had to control myself, otherwise I'd puke all over the room. _That god-forbidden place. It's like a renovated house. New paint, same old house._ What was dad thinking sending me there? How could he?

I got up to my feet and slowly motioned myself to the shower. I took off my clothes and let some cold water flow through my body.

My body couldn't stand the cold. Almost immediately after the first drop of water touched my skin, I jerked out of the shower. I told myself that I had to go in, not only to take a bath, but to also ease the pain. For years, taking a bath after another encounter with Adria has always been difficult. There were times wherein I'd just skip a shower, but sooner or later I'd have to.

_It's okay Reila, just let it flow. There's nothing that's going to hurt you. She's not here, she's in her little space._

I jumped right into the shower, forcing every part of me to get hit by the cold, freezing water. My hair. My chest. My arms and legs. Everything felt soothing, yet painful at the same time.

Then my neck met the water.

There was a sudden excruciating amount of pain going through my body and mind. The wounds on my neck never got to heal ever since the incident started, so it felt like exposing a newly fresh cut to a supply of alcohol. I slipped and fell while the cold water was continuously raining down on me.

It hurts to get up. It hurts to get back on ones feet after being knocked down by whatever fate has in stored for us. In the little pools that formed on the floor, I could almost see Adria's veiled face looking at me with her "eyes". She was laughing, seeing me weak and worthless like that.

_How can I have the strength to keep moving on? Do I still have the strength to keep on living?_

Darkness was enveloping my vision, I could neither see nor feel anything around me. Adria said that the only thing keeping me alive is as small as a butterfly? I doubt it. I'm weak, ill, and on the verge of collapsing. To live means to expect all kinds of pain in this world and actually tolerate it. Heh, I think I'm at my limit already. Maybe my time is almost here…

_Big Sis? Reila?_

"Huh?" I said half-consciously. The cold water has made me weak and I couldn't think clearly. But for a moment there, just for one moment, I thought I heard…

I took a deep breath and gathered enough energy to stand up. It wasn't easy, but I managed to get back to my feet, clearing the little pools of Adria's face. _Take that Adria._ I thought to myself as I cleaned my body. _You didn't get me yet_.

I carefully dried my whole body, especially my neck, and proceeded to check my full reflection. There I saw, my wonderful blonde hair flowing down my soft, smooth skin. Dad said that I looked prettier than my mother, but I can't really say for myself. _How can I judge my own appearance if my neck's in the way?_

Sure enough, my neck was the only thing that didn't "fit" well with the rest of my body. It was still red; dad said that it was possible to get it patched up but I believe that there's nothing anyone can do. Mercuria will always be back for me, so "patching up" my neck wouldn't be very effective.

Still, with the consideration of my neck, I really do look good. Face's all nice, waist's pretty okay, body's telling me to go easy on the ramen though. I just can't say for sure whether I'm absolutely gorgeous or just normal.

I sighed, but I just had to cheer up. _Now's not the time to focus on appearance_. I told myself quietly. I picked out a new set of clothes and dressed up for school. _Speaking of which…_

I checked my alarm clock while I was fixing my hair and noticed that the time was around five thirty in the morning. There's plenty of time to change and fix my stuff for school. I wandered through the room checking what's left of it after last night's struggle. There wasn't much of a mess except for my bed looking like… well, a mess. With my hair all done (which takes FOREVER), and my room looking all clean, it's time for me to make some breakfast!

I planned to dash through the second floor and go down stair and fix the groceries before anyone noticed that they were there. It's been five hours and the others would be so depressed if they started to rot or catch flies or something. That was the plan. Well, that was the plan before I ran straight into Akihiko.

"W-woah! Acck!" My body collided with his and, surprisingly, I managed to knock my senior down to the ground.

The tackle took him by surprise and he only mumbled a small "Oof!" before quickly getting back up to his feet. "Hey, where's the race? If you're training for something, it shouldn't be done in the dorm." He said as he offered me his hand.

I was about to reach his hand until I felt a small itch on my neck. I touched it and I felt my skin, all rough, and…

_I FORGOT MY SCARF!_

I swatted his hand away, got up and raced back to my room. Since I took him by surprise, I don't think he saw me well enough to recognize my neck. I got in, picked out a green scarf from my closet, wrapped it around my neck and calmed down. The wounds were still new so there was a little sting, but other than that, I was fine.

_Now how do I act casual after that?_

I just sighed and left the room. Akihiko was still there waiting for me, and when he got the chance to he asked, "did I do something wrong?"

I hesitated to reply, but he was my senior; I had to at least show some respect. "Well, you did come out of nowhere."

Akihiko raised an eyebrow. "So did you, but I didn't freak out and ran back to my room. What happened?"

_I have a psychopathic friend who wants me to die._

_My Persona always wants to strangle me to death_

_I have experienced many, many things that would scare the hell out of you._

"Um… I forgot to put my makeup on?" I bluffed.

Fortunately he took the bluff and replied, "you wear makeup? Huh, never knew. I just thought that you always looked like that."

I'm honestly not sure whether to thank God that he didn't believe me, or feel sorry for the poor guy, but at least I don't have to tell him the truth. "Yeah, all girls do. How else do you think we look this good?"

Akihiko shrugged. "I don't know anything that has to do with you, so I guess I'll just have to believe you. But anyway, I saw you last night while I was returning to the dorm. You were in a hurry; I could tell that much." He got all serious now and shook his head. "You went up to your room and forgot to put the groceries where they belong! Now, I don't know what you were up to, but at least have the decency to set your priorities straight."

_Oh thank God the food's okay! _

I bowed down in apology. "I'm sorry senpai." Akihiko isn't normally like this, but when he's all serious and everything, he's like an older brother of sorts.

"Hey, hey, I'm not angry at you or anything," he scratched his head with a little look of guilt on his face, "look, just be careful next time, okay?"

I nodded and went with him to the dining room. "Tell you what, I'll make you some breakfast," I offered. "I would've had to answer to Mitsuru if the groceries were left all alone there. You saved me from one heck of a sermon!" Sure enough, Akihiko accepted the offer. "Sure! As long as it has enough proteins for me to last the day!"

_Proteins, proteins, proteins. Doesn't this guy eat anything else but proteins?_

Akihiko just sat there on the dining table reading a newspaper while I was left in the kitchen preparing breakfast. He offered to help, but I insisted that I do everything alone. Who knows? Maybe I'm just paranoid that my scarf would just suddenly fall off and he'd be all panicking and stuff.

Well, there wasn't much I could come up with, but I made some waffles. Whole-grain waffles with sliced strawberries.

"Akihiko! Breakfast's ready!" I said. As those three words left my mouth, I wanted to hit myself with the frying pan while it was still hot. I smacked my face with my free hand instead and groaned. _God, that sounded horrible._

With absolutely no idea, he asked, "did you say something?" Although he saw me pointing at the plates, he sniffed the air and the scent of waffles registered in his mind. One thing I like about him is that he can be clueless sometimes. Especially around women.

I took off my apron and sat next to him in the dining table. He looked very hungry and immediately munched his food away. There were like four waffles in his plate and two on mine, but he somehow managed to finish all of them before I started on my second one.

With a small burp, he thanked me for the meal. "That was a great breakfast! I wished I could cook as good as you." He was smiling, and I think it's because he underestimated my cooking ability.

I wiped some bits of waffles from my mouth and said, "If it weren't for me, you'd be eating some lame breakfast like instant noodles or something."

"If it weren't for me, you'd be dead in front of Mitsuru." He replied with a smile.

"Point taken. Now, can you pass me the maple syrup?"

He took the maple syrup, but instead of giving it to me, he just held on to it and wagged his finger. "Nope! This stuff's bad for your health! You're body's already weak to the temperature, and I'd hate to see you or anyone ending up in the hospital!"

I got pretty annoyed and let him hold onto the syrup bottle. _I'd be in the hospital for multiple reasons, but I don't think it would be because of a cold._

He waited for me to finish eating and we both washed our plates in the sink. He then grabbed his coat and asked, "hey, wanna jog with me to school? It's be great way to exercise your body."

I checked my watch, not because I wanted to know what time it was, but I did so just to avoid his gaze. "Um senpai… I'm wearing a skirt."

That's when his smiling face turned into an awkward one. "R-right! Sorry about that! How about we walk instead?"

_My gosh you're persistent. _

I found out that it was five minutes before six thirty. Mitsuru's probably awake by now, and she'd probably want me to take blue boy to school again. I weighed out my options and decided to take the one which puts me far, _far_, away from wake-up duty.

"Fine. Just let me grab some things before we head out." As I walked up the stairs, I noticed that Akihiko was still in ear shot, so I asked him a small question, "what's the temperature today?"

"The paper said it would be around fifteen to twenty degrees Celsius." He answered back.

_Well that's just perfect…_

Going to school was fine at first, until I found out that the people were staring at me. Well, to be more accurate, the boys were staring at Akihiko for being with me, while the girls were giving me evil stares for being with Akihiko. Akihiko just casually walked to school like he was oblivious to his surroundings, while I was busy making sure that I didn't walk awkwardly.

_Just keep calm and keep moving forward._

_Just keep calm and keep moving forward._

_Just keep calm and keep moving for- !_

Well, I just made both Akihiko and myself public enemy number one.

I was too focused on moving forward that I wasn't focused on _seeing_ what was in front of me. So it's basically me bumping into Akihiko for the second time of the day. Fortunately, I didn't knock myself down, and he didn't fall either. _Unfortunately_, we both stopped moving.

Picture this, two young, wonderful teens standing in the middle of the school yard with all eyes on them. The girl directly behind the boy, hands to her chest, but with her faced bumped onto the guy's back, and none of them moved an inch after that.

After a good one minute, which felt like an eternity, Akihiko shrugged and moved forward, once again, completely oblivious to what's happened.

With my face all burned up and my temperature rising, I just ran all the way to my classroom. I think I heard Akihiko say something like a "huh?" or a "what's wrong?", but I took no chances.

_Day one started with rumours. Now, it'll be flaming arrows and death notes._

The entire day wasn't that long. It was just the same few hours of the same old stuff. What was different though were the death stares of the other girls in my class. Ever since class started, I focused my full attention to either the board or my table. I know for a fact that there were eyes staring at me because I just walked to school with the champion of the boxing team. The girls in school were head-over-heels for Akihiko, but they don't know what it's like to live with the guy. I mean sure, he's nice and all, but he can be clueless... a lot!

I swear, Junpei knew what happened because gossip travelled faster than the speed of light. Whether he knew it or not, it was good that he kept his mouth shut about it. I think Yukari knows about it too, but she just smiled and waved at me. As for Makoto… well, you'd need a bomb to get his attention away from his music.

When class ended, I got my things and bolted to the nearest exit. I heard some guys ask me on the way if they could walk me home, but I just ignored them and ran straight to the station. _The farther I get away from school, the sooner I can forget what's happened today._

When I got back to the dorm, the first person I saw was my dad's friend. When I say "friend" what I meant to say is that he's a colleague of my dad when they both worked for Kirijo.

"Oh, hello there! Welcome back Reila! Is your father in good health as well?" That was the voice of Mr. Shuji Ikutski. Previous scientist of the Kirijo Group and our current supervisor.

"I haven't heard from him in a while." I replied, which is true. Last I heard, he's in a tropical island with his boss.

I just sat down on the opposite chair and twirled my baton to pass the time. It's just the second day of school, so not much homework was given. I can use this time to relax and recover from last night's meeting.

Just when I though I could relax any further, Yukari came in. She didn't look tired, but she definitely caught up to me. "Reila! I was looking for you! But you ran all the way back. Oh, hello Mr. Ikutski."

"Hm? Why were you looking for me?" I asked.

She sat down and tossed her bag across the couch. "Well I heard that you walked to school with Akihiko today, and I thought that you wouldn't mind walking home with me."

I stopped twirling my baton and fixed my scarf before I looked at Yukari. "One, whatever it is you heard, it never happened! Two, why all of a sudden?"

Yukari shrugged, "well, we're the only junior girls in the dorm, so it would be nice if we both got along together. Plus, I thought you'd already open up since you walked with…" She stopped talking probably because she knew that I was staring at her with an angry look.

Ikutski read the atmosphere and decided to stop the tension. "Now, now, let's not all get worked up around here. You both have had a long day at school, now's the time to…"

He didn't finish his sentence because the next person who came in that door was Makoto.

"Oh, he's back." Yukari noticed.

Ikutski's full attention was transferred to Makoto's presence. "So, this is our new guest…"

They both stood up and greeted Makoto. At first I wanted to stay with them, but when I heard Mr. Ikutski telling Makoto about his own name, I knew for a fact that he'd start telling lame jokes.

I stood up, got my stuff and went to the kitchen to prepare some dinner. Normally, they'd ask me to cook something up for them, but they'd be too shy and have something else instead. _Bully for them_. I thought. Nothing beats fried rice.

_Once this is over, I just want to sleep._

After dinner, and after Mitsuru made sure that Makoto was already in bed, we all went up to the Command Room and spied on Makoto. I was against this, but I let it be. I can't change the mind of the Heiress. I didn't bother being with the controls, so I just sat back and played with my baton.

Soon, Ikutski came up to check on us. "Working hard? So, how's he doing?"

"He went to bed a little while ago. He's asleep now," Mitsuru replied. She faced back at the monitor and checked on Makoto. If he moved, we'd see him. If he sneezed, we'd hear him. Every place in this dorm has a camera, and everything can be seen right here in this room.

Observing Makoto was now a number one priority for Mitsuru. "Mr. Chairman, do you think he's…?"

Ikutski pushed up his glasses and crossed his arms. "Well, let's wait and see for now. The Dark Hour is approaching."

After he said that, the lights turned green and a familiar chill went down my spine. The Dark Hour has commenced, and Makoto didn't turn into a coffin.

All eyes were on him and the silence continued for a good few minutes. Ikutski's the one who spoke first saying, "Hmm… he's still sleeping. As you can see, he's retained his human form."

Yukari decided to question the Chairman. "So he must be…"

Mr. Ikutski only shrugged. "He's asleep, but he's definitely experiencing the Dark Hour. The only question that remains is whether or not he has the potential."

Unconsciously, I answered his question. "He does."

All heads turned to my direction, but I ignored them and kept on twirling my baton.

Mitsuru stepped closer to me and met my eyes. She spoke in a clear, but serious tone, "and how do you know?"

Thanks to my cursed gift, I knew that Makoto had the potential. He was the "blue hair" that I saw in my visions. I also know who's the "fallen girl", and I'm going to make sure that she'd stay "fallen" and not dead. As for the latter images, I had no clue whatsoever.

I shifted my eyes away from her and replied, "trust me, he's going to be the fourth member of SEES. He has the potential. He can summon a Persona. I know these things."

Whether they all believed me or not was not what I wanted to know; they can think that I'm crazy and all but I don't really care. Maybe I am? But all I want to know is regarding my last image in my vision. In my head, I saw _Death_. But how is that possible? How could I know what _Death _looked like? How did I know that _Death_ would appear? Was it just a mere guess or…

_Have I already seen Death?_

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**Please read and review!**


	5. Chapter 5: The Prediction

**Author's Note**

**Hey all! Here's the next chapter!**

**To all those who already know what's going to go down, will it really be just like it was planned?**

**By the way, an old friend makes an appearance at the end...**

**I'm going to be breaking the chapters now, so hopefully there's a better flow of events**

******Have fun reading!**

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Chapter 5

The Prediction

_Come on, come on! Think Reila, think! All of Adria's predictions are in order! It's all going to be one event after the other!_

I left the Command Room and went straight to mine. I was pacing around back and forth trying to make sense of my visions I received from Adria the other night. My visions don't last long, so I always tried to figure out what exactly is going to happen. Each image is about a second long and they aren't very revealing. I could only identify two images: Makoto and Yukari. The blue hair gave it away, but the "fallen girl" vision, though a blur, had a shade of pink in it. What I don't understand is, what of the others?

_We don't have a lot of swords here…_

_I'm sure that nobody here plays the harp…_

_And I'm confident that we didn't have a coffin monster in the dorm…_

_But what about Death?_

I tried to recall the specific details from the crystal ball. My mind immediately thought of "Death", the noun, when I first saw the vision. I didn't even recognize any features that can describe what a personified "Death" would look like. Does he have a scythe? Does he have a hood? I couldn't tell. All I could determine from that one second in the crystal ball was: _The image was a humanoid figure_.

"Argh!" I pulled my hair in frustration. "Why can't I figure this out? Only I can make sense of these things, but where do the last four fit?" I immediately dropped to my bed and stared at the ceiling. _The events will happen one after the other_. Try as I might, I couldn't come up with an explanation of the events that transpired in my visions. Finding the explanation only hurt my head even more, so I decided to call it a night.

_It's not like it's going to happen any time soon_

_~SSS~_

It was the third day of school and from this point onwards, it's going to be a roller coaster ride filled with ups and downs. Just like a roller coaster, you can ride it all day long or stop in between for breaks. The ride can seem to be fast, but it can also feel very, very slow. Sometimes it's exciting, and sometimes not. But the good thing is: it has an end.

Mr. Okoda gave us his introduction this year; he wanted to make an impact on us by using our current slang, but I think he overdid it. I just spent my time thinking and reflecting.

I thought to my self that time is just like people. Time comes and goes just like people do. It is erratic in nature but can always be estimated and predicted. The only difference is that time is both infinite and finite.

Once class ended, I went to my locker to get some stuff and noticed that there were notes stuffed in it. Some were pink, while most were of different shades of black, but after reading a few notes, I just got them all and threw them into the nearest trash bin.

_They don't know the real me_

As I walked down the hall, I noticed that everyone in my dorm's already moving out of school. Were they in a hurry to go home? Was something up?

Then it hit me.

_Mitsuru, you're really not giving up on him are you?_

I got my stuff and proceeded on my way to the dorm because if yesterday they observed Makoto while he sleeps, today they'll probably do the same thing again. But on my way home, I couldn't help but think of the last four images that keep returning to my mind.

_What could they possibly mean?_

Eventually, nightfall came to Japan and Mitsuru told Makoto to go to sleep early tonight. Just like a good dog, he simply obeyed without asking any questions.

_Why would he do that? Can't he see that she's just ordering him around?_

When he left, Mitsuru, Yukari, and Mr. Ikutski went to the Command Room to check on him. Surely they'd be on the look out if there were any changes with Makoto.

I was on my way upstairs when I heard footsteps going down the stairs.

"Oh, hey," Akihiko said as he came down the steps. He looked like he wanted to go for a nightly jog or something. "Look, sorry for the mess I brought upon you yesterday."

"Wait just a moment there," I replied while gripping my scarf. "What do you remember of yesterday's events?"

Akihiko gave me a puzzled look and replied, "I saw some girls put a bunch of letters in your locker, and from the looks of it, they weren't anything pleasant, were they?"

I sighed in relief. I thought he was going to give a "Junpei-answer" regarding the nice morning breakfast and the cheerful walk to school. "Yeah, you could say that."

"Well, what did they say?"

"One said that they'd put dog poop in my shoes. Another said that they'd start making a rumour about me and a teacher. Some actually wrote that they would stalk me all the way home and throw rocks at my window at night." I think there were more of them, but I didn't want to waste my senior's time.

Akihiko just shook his head, disapproving their actions. "People nowadays. Why can't they control themselves? Especially the girls"

"Hey!" I said in outburst, "I'm standing right here in front of you! Are you saying that I can't control myself?"

Akihiko noticed the error in his words and apologized. "Okay, okay, stop pouting. Not all women are crazy. I'm just saying that it's not right to threaten people. That's all."

"You got that right," I said after calming down, "threats are only for those who can't stand and fight!"

"Can you?" Akihiko asked in response.

I kinda ate my words there and jerked back a bit. "Well… I, uh, um…"

We both ended up laughing together after I couldn't find a better excuse for myself. Laughing hurts, especially when your neck is as bad as mine.

Once Akihiko calmed down he continued on, "you know, you're different from the others. Want to come jog with me?"

"Sorry, I'm needed here," I replied. "Without me, who knows what's going to happen to this dorm. And besides, why don't you stay?"

Akihiko simply raised a hand to reject my offer. "Watching the screens are not worth my time. I'd rather train to get stronger. There are battles that we have to win."

"Battles that _you_ have to win. I'm taking no part in it."

"Oh come on now. It's not that bad. Look, I know that your Persona is weak against all physical attacks and ice, but we will need all the help we can get." Akihiko was just staring at the ceiling now and I was just wondering if he's going to go all "Mitsuru" on me.

"We've got to watch each others backs, if not, then we're in big trouble." He collected his composure and wore a smile. "I'm not forcing you to join, but all I'm asking you is to think about it, okay?"

He walked to the door and waved good-bye. He was leaving for a jog when it was almost midnight, but unlike him, I break easily. He was so confident about himself and his strength that I wonder if he ever fears anything. I on the other hand have many fears, and all of those fears are because of that one _being_. I checked my watch and it said that it's a few minutes till midnight, but I didn't know what I was going to do. I was left there in the living room thinking about what Akihiko said.

_He says to watch our backs, but who's watching his?_

I decided to forget about it. If he's confident he can take care of himself, then I have no need to worry. I proceeded to go upstairs and prepared myself for a long night staring at a bunch of computers.

When I got up, everyone was readying the equipment to observe our latest guinea pig.

"Ah, Reila," Mr. Ikustski said, "Can you be a dear and help us with monitoring Makoto?"

"Not today," I responded, "I feel a bit tired. Maybe later after I get a quick snooze."

I hopped onto the couch and stretched my arms. I only wanted to take a power nap, but if I accidentally sleep a little longer, then it's too bad that I can't do monitoring duty.

_If things happen, they happen, right?_

___~SSS~_

"MINAMOTO! ON YOUR FEET! NOW!"

My brain fell out before my body did. Screaming into someone's ears while they're having their beauty sleep can really piss them off. I fell out of the couch, bumped my head, and my scarf almost unfolded from my neck.

"Whoever woke me up is gonna…"

"Akihiko is injured! He's on his way to the dorm. We need you! His injuries sound serious!"

That's when all my senses went on overtime mode. Forget sleeping, my senior's hurt, or worse!

Judging from the tone of voice, it told me two things. One was that it was Mitsuru who's waking me up. Two, things are about to get ugly from here on out.

I looked up from the floor and saw Mitsuru racing out of the door and Mr. Ikutski keeping tabs on the sleeping boy while Yukari helped me up to my feet. She didn't look too good. Fear, nervousness, and shock were written on her face. Her pink clothes didn't seem to reflect anything happy, and her entire body was shaking in fear!

I got to my feet and asked, "when did this happen?"

Still in shock, she forced out a reply, "a few minutes ago. We received a message that Akihiko-senpai's on his way to the dorm." She stopped to gather breath and continued. "He said that he was hurt, and that he was being followed by a Shadow unlike any other. He's… he didn't…"

"Calm down Yukari!" I sure wasn't the best motivator in the group, but shouting seems to have calmed down her nerves. "He's going to be fine, look, just, let's go down okay?"

Her nod was the only thing I needed to register. I grabbed her hand and my baton and then we both raced down the stairs. She didn't seem to be in full control of her body yet, but if I had to drag her all the way down, then so be it. Nobody's going to die here. Not tonight.

When we got down stairs, we saw Mitsuru standing by the main doors with weapon at hand. She had the look of a general and an icy fury of a serpent. Whatever we're dealing now probably isn't a small threat.

She didn't even look back at us but spoke. "Prepare yourselves. Akihiko isn't someone those Shadows can take down so easily. Even if he's careless at sometimes and overconfident, he would never get hurt as much as he said he was."

I saw her stern look and believed that this was no joking matter anymore. "How bad did he say his injuries were?"

Before I could even get a response, the doors burst wide open and a shady figure collapsed onto the floor. He held his chest and was heavily bruised. Traces of blood were spilling all over the floor, but what surprised us the most was that the person was giving a small laugh to himself.

"Get ready to be surprised… It'll be here any second." Akihiko said after spitting out some blood.

_Oh my dear God! His head! _

As if it were second nature, I took out my Evoker and pointed it underneath my chin.

"Mercuria!" I shouted, praying that he's still conscious.

My nurse Persona formed and I began giving it instructions. "Mercuria, we're looking at an emergency here! Identify all of the injured areas and start healing them!"

I hoped that she will follow my orders this time around because usually, whenever I tell her to do something, like say, 'stop choking me', she doesn't follow.

Mercuria nodded and floated towards Akihiko with her giant injection in hand. She surveyed him with her two blue eyes and began using Diarama. She waved her injection over the cuts and bruises and released a green mist onto each and every spot. Slowly but surely, Akihiko's wounds were disappearing and his blood stopped spilling out of his body. Mercuria's healing spells out levels my senpai's, which is probably why Mitsuru wanted me to do the healing instead of herself or Yukari.

Within a matter of seconds Akihiko's battered and bruised body was clean from the blood and scratches.

Akihiko regained consciousness and managed to sit upright. "Thanks, looks like I don't owe you anything anymore. You guys won't believe-"

That's when I slapped him in the face. Hard.

The other two were surprised, but I didn't care because I know how bad his injuries were. "You idiot! Do you know how close you were to dying?! Can't you be serious here?!" I stomped my foot in frustration. Tears were slowly forming in my eyes, not just because I'm happy that he's alive, but because I believe that his accident was because of me.

Adria's image began to form in my head. She was laughing or smiling or even clapping her hands; I don't really know. However, I am the reason this happened to him. I'm a curse.

_Oh God. It's all my fault._

I wiped my tears and told myself to keep it together. The others were just looking at me and waiting for something to happen. "You were going to black out and suffer from blood loss, but Mercuria cleaned up your wounds, but she said that parts of your rib were broken; you should go see a doctor, a _real_ doctor, when you can."

All Akihiko could do was nod before something rammed the door.

"Damn," my senior swore, "it's here already?!"

Mitsuru pulled out her silver Evoker and said, "Takeba, Minamoto, take Makoto to a safe place. We'll handle this." She then turned toward Akihiko who's still short of breath from his earlier fight. "I'm sorry Akihiko, but you led it here, so you'll have to fight."

He stood up fully erect and raised his fist. "Like I had a choice!" He said angrily. He turned to us and said, "well what are you two waiting for? GO!"

Yukari already left, but I still stayed. "Mitsuru, he just recovered from a near death experience and you still want him to fight? He's in no condition to-"

More ramming appeared and both my seniors paid more attention to the door than me.

"It's okay Reila," Akihiko said while giving me a thumbs up as if he thinks that it's all I need to be sure that he's all right. "We'll be just fine, now go!"

I wanted to stay. Both my seniors were risking their lives to protect us. If I were in their situation, I would have simply lied down and wait for everything to end, or I would've just ran away. In fact, I was already running. That's all I'm ever good at. Running away from my problems.

_~SSS~_

I bumped into Yukari and Makoto on their way down the stairs. The looks on their faces… If only they never had the potential… If only I wasn't in that accident ten years ago…

Yukari, with her bow in hand and all tensed up, spoke with minimal confidence, "where's Mitsuru and Akihiko- senpai? Are they-"

Another ram, but this time, a door crashed.

I grabbed my two classmates, who both turned into statues, by their shoulders and dragged them to the back door of the dorm. "Come on let's move!" I shouted.

Once we arrived at the back door behind the kitchen, Mitsuru contacted us through Yukari's phone.

"Takeba! Minamoto!" she said, " be careful! There's more than one enemy! The one we're fighting now isn't the one Akihiko saw!"

And after she said those words, the back door got rammed as well. Whatever Shadow's coming after us, it would appear that it was not alone.

"If the one that Akihiko fought wasn't at the door," I said to myself, "then this one must be…"

A few more attacks to the door made me have to change the course of action. I pulled Yukari and Makoto out of there and started to climb the stairs.

More ramming from downstairs and every floor we went to had the sound of windows crashing. It was almost as if the big Shadow that Akihiko was talking about was following us and not Akihiko.

"The roof! We have to get to the roof!" Yukari said while dragging Makoto behind her back.

"We can't!" I argued, "It will leave us out in the open!"

"Well, what do you suggest? Our seniors are down there fighting for their lives, and we're running for our lives from something that's chasing us! We're sitting ducks either way!"

Yukari continued up the stairs while Minato just followed her without any questions. I remained at the third floor wondering what I was going to do. On one hand, my seniors will need my help after all they did for us, but there's no way I can safely get downstairs without bumping into danger, and the other choice was to stay on the roof with me, a person weak to practically ANYTHING, Yukari, who can barely summon her Persona, and Makoto, the blue boy who has yet to respond to everything that has happened so far.

Then I remembered my vision.

A jolt just ran up my spine signalling me to chase after the two of them. It was hard to believe that this would be the night of all nights for a prediction to come true, but hey; if it happens it happens right?

"Yukari!" I shouted, "don't close the door!" I managed to catch up to them just as they arrived at the roof. Yukari locked the door behind us while we were all under the green moonlight's serenity.

Yukari took a few steps away from the door and calmed down. "I think we're safe for-"

"YUKARI! GET DOWN!"

An Agi spell came out from nowhere and was heading straight for Yukari!

Thankfully, she heard me in time to avoid the shot. _Was that supposed to happen? Did I avert her fate?_

Little did I know that Adria's visions, my visions, were just about to unfold.

A monster, a Shadow, climbed the entire dorm to reach us at the roof. It had swords and a lot of hands, just like my vision pictured them. It held a single blue mask with it's one free hand and started casting these unusual spells at us!

Yukari grabbed her Evoker hoping to summon her Persona, but a blue wave of energy knocked her away from us, and in the process forced her to drop her Evoker.

"Yukari! Oh my God!" I saw the Shadow getting closer and closer to us, and the situation, or rather the _hopeless_ situation, gave me three choices. One is to defend Makoto, the other is to defend Yukari. The last choice is to save myself.

As these choices clashed into my mind, I had to find a way so that all of us would be saved. "Makoto, grab the gun now! When you got it, run to the other side. I'll distract the Shadow!"

Makoto only nodded and proceeded to follow my directions. I threw my baton at the Shadow and it bounced off it's head and landed near my feet. The Shadow focused more on me, thus giving time for Minato to get Yukari's Evoker and run to the other side.

The Shadow started to close in on me and cornered me next to the wall. It was far from both Yukari and Minato, and all I have to do is to distract it long enough…

"Makoto!" I shouted. "Summon your Persona!"

The confused child simply stared hopelessly at the gun in his hands with fear. He probably thought it was a real gun.

"That's it! Let fear get to you!" I shouted some more. The Shadow swung one of its large swords at me and I blocked it with my baton. My defensive stance didn't hold for long since, oh I don't know, fourteen other swords were also aimed at me! I dashed to the farthest corner of the roof, just barely dodging its attacks. One hit of those things could mean that Adria's wish of seeing a dead body will come true.

"Point the gun to your head and pull the trigger! You must use fear as strength! You must- eek!" A hand grabbed my waist, and soon, four other hands restrained my arms and legs. I wanted to escape, summon my Persona, or anything! My only hope was that my vision comes true. I mean sure, it's most likely going to come true, but that can mean it can happen after me getting caught. Or me dying.

I got to see Makoto breathing deeply and gasping for air. Was it fear? Or was he going insane after all these events? I decided to give my instructions in my last effort to make Adria's predictions come true. "Makoto! You have to summon your Persona! You have to fear death!"

As I saw the eyes of the Shadow's mask, I began to be absorbed by its darkening abyss. _Was that how death feels like? Cold, sad, and empty? Is this finally my time to die?_

For some insane reason, I simply smiled at the face of my executioner. _I'll accept death now._

A shot rang out and both the Shadow and I turned to its source and I got to see Adria's visions start to unravel.

Makoto has successfully summon his Persona! Out of the depths of Makoto's consciousness came out a humanoid bearing a harp at its back.

The being spoke to Makoto, "Thou art I. And I art thou. I am Orpheus, Master of Strings."

At this point, I was like, "it's time for a beat down!" or "yeah, now smash this thing!" but things started to get a little out of hand.

Orpheus was wailing in pain! He looked like he was in excruciating amounts of pain coming from inside him, just waiting to be released. True enough, there was something wrong with his insides. Arms just sprang out of his mouth! His entire face was cracking and I started to think that we were all going to die because of Orpheus's uncontrollable power!

One moment, Orpheus was there, fully alive, then the next moment he was shattered into thousand of pieces. A dark shrouded figure emerged surrounded with coffins. He bore no facial features but wore a mask that highlighted eyes and a mouth. With a mighty roar, the monster dashed towards me and swung its sword. It sliced through the Shadow's arms and rammed the enemy Shadow away from me.

I dashed towards Yukari and away from the two brutes. The sight of her knocked the oxygen out of my lungs since blood was covered all around her body. However upon closer inspection, it wasn't her blood. She didn't have any cuts or open wounds, so I concluded that it's the blood that appears in the Dark Hour. I helped Yukari sit upright and summoned Mercuria. My Persona began identifying and healing the bruised areas and the green mist was slowly waking up Yukari from her unconsciousness.

"Wh-Where am I? What happened?" she asked. Her pink uniform was already dirtied with blood and dust from the blast. She opened her eyes and stared at disbelief as she watched the enemy Shadow get beaten up by a raging brute. "What is that?"

"That," I said, "is Makoto's Persona." I helped Yukari stand up with one of her arms on my shoulder and we both walked away from the battle field. It was pretty one-sided though. The Shaodw's swords fell one by one as Makoto's Persona hacked them all away. In no time at all, the last of its hands faded away and the coffin Persona stabbed its sword in the Shadow's mask.

With a loud cry, similar to Godzilla's cry I suppose, it raised it's sword up in victory. Then, in a blinding of light, it disappeared and left Orpheus behind. The monster, our savior, disappeared.

Yukari looked around the remains of the enemy Shadow, and thinking that everything's fine now asked, "is it over?"

Lo and behold, it wasn't. Black blobs of the giant Shadow's body combined and spawned two little ones that looked very similar it. Without swords, the smaller Shadows made a dash towards the both of us, hands raised and ready to strike.

"Orpheus!"

Makoto fired another shot and Orpheus grabbed the harp at his back and bashed the smaller Shadows. Orpheus' strength knocked both monsters out almost instantly. Yukari and I both knew that Orpheus will definitely be a good member for SEES, but the earlier Persona will do even better, if it can even be controlled.

Orpheus faded away into Makoto's consciousness, and left the three of us alone on the roof. Makoto, tall, calm, and silent, fell to his knees and lost consciousness.

We both gasped and Yukari made a run for Makoto's body. "Hey," she said, "are you okay? Come on, say something!"

I ran by his side and checked his pulse and breathing. With a smile I told her, "he'll be fine, he's just exhausted. Give him a good rest, and he'll be back to his normal self."

This allowed Yukari to rest easy. "Thank goodness," she let out a silent sigh of relief, "such power."

"Indeed." A voice came from behind and alerted us. We turned to find our seniors in good health and they didn't look as bad as we were. Mitsuru brushed her long red hair aside, while Akihiko looked much better than his accident earlier.

"You guys alright?" The male senior asked. He was holding his chest tightly, probable because of the injuries he has in his ribs.

I stood up with my arms crossed and replied, "we're all okay. He on the other hand is exhausted. A few good hours in bed should do the trick."

"We should still send him to the hospital," Mitsuru offered, "he might have had other injuries besides exhaustion."

I took out my Evoker and summoned my nurse Persona once more. She hovered over the sleeping boy and scanned his entire structure. "Give me the verdict Mercuria. How is he?" She finished scanning and faded back into my consciousness. Inside my head, her voice can be heard.

I sighed and turned back to Mitsuru. "He sustained no other injuries, but remember when I said that it should take a few hours of sleep? Mercuria says that he'll need a few days of sleep. Maybe around a week or so." This shocked the three of them, but I continued. "Don't worry, he'll wake up. Look, my father said something that if a person summons his Persona for the very first time, it should be something easy and natural. If it was forced, there is a likelihood of major exhaustion to follow." I turned to Akihiko and pointed to his chest. "When you visit the doctor to have your ribs checked, leave Makoto there for a while if you don't trust my Persona."

I faced Mitsuru and approached her until we were face to face. "Well? Aren't you happy that you gained a new member?" My tone was beginning to be less happy and more on just being really, really pissed. "If summoning his Persona can cause his body to feel that much strain, would you still wish him to continue?"

Mitsuru only stared at me back without any sense of guilt. "Like you said, he only needs to rest. Additionally, it's still his choice whether or not to help us.

"I will guarantee you that you will make him an offer he cannot refuse. But know this, the three of us were exposed to a Shadow, and see how much we had to endure. Death would have gotten to us all. Until you have understood that death can happen anytime at all, you wouldn't be able to understand me."

I left them all alone and quietly went straight to my room. I heard that they would take both Akihiko and Makoto to the hospital tomorrow morning. Honestly, he could have just stayed here in the dorm to rest, but then again, how's he going to eat, drink or go to the bathroom if Mercuria says that he'll wake up in weeks?

_~SSS~_

I entered the cold corners of my room and turned on the lights. It was no good, the Dark Hour's still here. I heard a knock on my door and Yukari appeared all better than before.

"Hey, I just came here to say thanks for earlier." She offered her hand to me and I gave it a good handshake. "If it wasn't for you, we wouldn't be here." I looked at her in the eye and said, "don't worry about it." She smiled and left to her room that's right across mine. I closed the door and remembered my earlier vision of Yukari falling to the ground. Adria's vision never stated that she'd die, but who knows? It might happen again.

"Hello there."

I quickly jumped in a fright when I heard that voice! I know for a fact that I was facing the hallway when Yukari knocked and I know that nobody entered my room before that! So why…

I turned around and saw a familiar looking boy sitting down on my bed. He wore a black and white striped shirt that matched his pants. "Were you expecting me?" He said with a cold smile.

"No I wasn't and if you're going to hurt me, you'll be sorry!" I was trying to sound threatening, but believe it or not, that little boy's presence felt… off.

The boy got down from the bed and stood up in front of me. "I'm not here to hurt you," he said, "I'm just here to say thank you."

"Why would you thank me?" I asked.

"You just saved my… _client_… from a Shadow. So I thank you kindly."

That's when I realized that this was the boy who appeared when Minato first came to the dorm!

"Y-you're the prison kid that gave Minato a contract!" I stuttered.

The boy looked annoyed, "I will pretend that I didn't hear that, but yes, I was there when he arrived. You can say that I… know him. Speaking of which, I came here because I remembered the card you handed out to me the other day."

"Yeah, I remember," I said. Look, call me crazy or insane, which ever suits me best, but this kid scared me more than the Shadow earlier. "Are you evil?" I asked.

He gave out a childish laugh as if I was thinking the impossible. Well, it was a crazy idea. At that point, I realized that I don't think that this boy's going to hurt me. "I am not going to hurt you if that's what you're asking. I was just passing by and I though it would be best if I were to thank you for helping him earlier."

He offered his hand just like Yukari did to me earlier. "Though it was just a short moment, I'm afraid that I need to leave now. I will meet you again someday."

"Yeah," I said after I grabbed his small hand. It felt cold for some reason, which made my body shiver. "Are you serious though? Are you going to meet me again?"

He walked to the door while he answered, "yes I will, just like I did to you here. Farewell."

Right before he closed the door, I asked him one final question. "Wait! What's your name?"

He looked at me and smiled. "You can call me... Pharos." After that, he closed the door and the Dark Hour left with him.

* * *

**Reila's Review Corner!**

**Reila: What's up? Welcome to my review corner! In here I will be answering (with the aid of Psiro, the author) the questions people ask or say in the reviews section. If anyone gives a review, thanks or answers will be found here!**

**Reila: And first up, we have our first review! Wohoo! Special thanks to "S4656guy" for being the first person to give my story a review! Thank you so much!**

**Reila: Yep, my life's pretty dark, but you'll see darker stuff during the Adria chapters! I've already asked my author to update more, but he's busy with college and other stuff. As for Simon, well, let's just say that I'm already a very depressing person... sometimes.**

**Reila: And that's all for today! See you next time in my review corner! Cheers!**


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